The Need
Global Location Strategies received a request for proposal from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC)/Sinopec in conjunction with their joint venture partner Sinopec to assist with the evaluation of four sites in Guangdong Province in China to locate a $10 billion refinery and cracker complex. GLS was selected to lead the site selection process. While GLS would normally recommend at least six months to complete a site selection of this magnitude, the KPC schedule left only six weeks.
The Solution
Due to the short time frame, GLS’ flexible methodology allowed the siting identification and evaluation to run efficiently. After working around the clock in China and Greenville – GLS conducted detailed site investigations at three of the four sites, analyzing each site on costs, risks and weighted comparative scoring, and reviewed the results with the client at a joint KPC/Sinopec meeting which included senior management.
Though conditions were seemingly better, the site in Maoming also had significantly higher risks than the site in Zhanjiang. GLS recommended a further round of negotiations with each community aimed at risk reduction. Zhanjiang was able to mitigate or eliminate almost all risks and Maoming was not, so KPC/Sinopec selected Zhanjiang as the location for the new refinery and cracker.